APOD: Leonids and Friends (2015 Nov 20)

[APOD Robot]

Leonids and Friends

Explanation: Leonid meteors rained down on planet Earth this week, the annual shower of dusty debris from the orbit of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Leonids streak through this composite night skyview from a backyard observatory in southern Ontario. Recorded with camera fixed to a tripod, the individual frames capture the bright meteor activity throughout the night of November 16/17, about a day before the shower's very modest peak. The frames are registered to the fixed field of view, so the meteor trails are not all aligned to the background star field recorded that evening when Orion stood above the southern horizon. As a result, the trails don't appear to point back to the shower's radiant in Leo, situated off the left edge of the star field frame. In fact, some trails could be of Taurid meteors, a shower also active in November, or even sporadic meteors, including a bright fireball with its reflection near the horizon.

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[Chris Peterson]

In fact, Southern Taurid activity was greater than Leonid activity. In all likelihood, most of the meteors here are not Leonids.

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

In fact, Southern Taurid activity was greater than Leonid activity. In all likelihood, most of the meteors here are not Leonids.

Theoretically one could determine the origin of each meteor flash by taking its spectra but would that definitively point to the comet of its source?

Looks like the work is ongoing.

[Chris Peterson]

In fact, Southern Taurid activity was greater than Leonid activity. In all likelihood, most of the meteors here are not Leonids.

Theoretically one could determine the origin of each meteor flash by taking its spectra but would that definitively point to the comet of its source?

In most cases, not reliably. Cometary material (e.g. Comet Encke for the Taurids, Comet Tempel-Tuttle for the Leonids) isn't finely differentiated by its meteoritic spectra.

A far more reliable way to figure out where a meteor comes from is simply to check its radiant (or better, its orbit based on the view from two locations).

[neufer]

In fact, Southern Taurid activity was greater than Leonid activity.
In all likelihood, most of the meteors here are not Leonids.

Theoretically one could determine the origin of each meteor flash by taking its spectra but would that definitively point to the comet of its source?

In most cases, not reliably. Cometary material (e.g. Comet Encke for the Taurids, Comet Tempel-Tuttle for the Leonids) isn't finely differentiated by its meteoritic spectra. A far more reliable way to figure out where a meteor comes from is simply to check its radiant (or better, its orbit based on the view from two locations).

November 2015 – Fireball Surge
Mike Hankey, American Meteor Society

<<So what’s up with all these November 2015 fireballs? Well as it turns out, meteor astronomer David Asher of Armaugh Observatory calculated that gravitational forces from Jupiter would cause the Taurid meteor stream to be more heavily concentrated near Earth at certain intervals. Asher refers to these periods of increased fireballs as Taurid Swarm Years. The predictions come close to repeating every 61 years and according to Asher the last good swarm encounter was 1954, so 2015 is predicted to be a swarm year. The increased fireball activity reported to the AMS so far this month seems to support this Taurid Swarm theory.

Dr. Cooke notes, “The Northern Taurids have shown up consistently on Halloween, and continue till November 21-22, so we have about 11 more days of increased fireball activity.”>>

[Chris Peterson]

Dr. Cooke notes, “The Northern Taurids have shown up consistently on Halloween, and continue till November 21-22, so we have about 11 more days of increased fireball activity.”>>

I'm recording about four times higher activity for Southern Taurids than Northern Taurids, and nearly all my fireball activity in the last month has been Southern Taurids.

[Boomer12k]

LOL....they look more like "ORIONIDS".....

Well anyway, it is a great shot!!!

:---[===] *

[neufer]

Dr. Cooke notes, “The Northern Taurids have shown up consistently on Halloween, and continue till November 21-22, so we have about 11 more days of increased fireball activity.”>>

I'm recording about four times higher activity for Southern Taurids than Northern Taurids,
and nearly all my fireball activity in the last month has been Southern Taurids.

You must live in the Southern Taurid Zone.

[Chris Peterson]

You must live in the Southern Taurid Zone.

A snowman in a Taurid zone?

[Beyond]

You must live in the Southern Taurid Zone.

A snowman in a Taurid zone?

Not for long!

[tetrodehead]

Barnard's Loop does it for me. i've been trying to photograph it; long exposures, red filter, high ISO etc.but no joy.
Great composition with the fireballs.

[DavidLeodis]

I think the red arc to the left of Orion is Barnard's Loop, but I'm wondering what is the red area just above Orion?

[Ann]

I think the red arc to the left of Orion is Barnard's Loop, but I'm wondering what is the red area just above Orion?

Click to view full size image

Constellation Orion.
Photo: Rogelio Bernal Andreo.

That is the Lambda Orionis nebula.

Jim Kaler wrote about Lambda Orionis, Meissa:
The star may not immediately overwhelm the eye, but it certainly does its surroundings. Meissa is a double that consists of a hot (35,000 Kelvin!) fourth magnitude (3.7) class O (O8) star four seconds of arc away from a still-pretty-warm sixth magnitude (5.6) B (B0.5) star ("only" 27,000 Kelvin).
...
From its distance of 1000 light years, we find the hot, bright component to radiate 65,000 times more energy than our Sun (including its ultraviolet radiation), while the other one radiates about 5500 times the solar light. Meissa is also the luminary of a small cluster. But it is most-famed for a huge surrounding ring of gas an amazing 150 light years across that is illuminated (ionized) by the star, showing the immense power of these (fortunately very rare) hot class O stars.

Ann

[neufer]

[b][color=#FF0000][size=150]Constellation Orion.[/size][/color] Photo: Rogelio Bernal Andreo.[/b]

---

Jim Kaler wrote:

Meissa is most-famed for a huge surrounding ring of gas an amazing 150 light years across that is illuminated (ionized) by the star, showing the immense power of these (fortunately very rare) hot class O stars.

Orion is, more or less, a sunburned snowman...just the kind one would expect in the Southern Taurid Zone.

[DavidLeodis]

Thank you Ann for your help in answering my query.